What the Telephone Does
The Telephone lets you actually CALL other players and monuments across the map -- a whole channel of communication outside team chat. Place one in your base, power it, and you can ring allies, taunt enemies, or call into monuments, all by number.
The base telephone is a free base-game deployable (its voicemail and a mobile variant need a DLC -- see the last section). The cheapest way to get one is the Outpost vending machine for about 50 scrap; you can also research it for 75 scrap (then craft with Tech Trash, which isn't really worth it), or find one rarely in sunken chests, crates, or on Oil Rig scientists.
Placement & Power
You can place a phone on the ground, foundations and floors, stairs, small/large boxes, and workbenches. Then it needs power -- but barely any: just 1 rW does it.
Wire your power source into the "Power" jack on the right side (use the Wire Tool). Two things to know: - It draws that 1 power CONTINUOUSLY, even when idle, so if you're running off small batteries you may want to unplug it when not in use. - The second jack, "Call Passthrough," outputs power only while the phone is ringing or on a call. Pair that with a Smart Switch and the Rust+ app (see the Rust+ guide) and you can get a notification on your REAL phone whenever someone calls your in-game one.
Phone Numbers
Every phone is automatically assigned a number, and it's RANDOMISED each time you place the phone -- so picking it up and redeploying gives you a new number. The number IS retained if the phone simply loses power (you don't lose it on a power cut).
One quirk to know: a phone that has a number but NO power will still ring -- with a muffled ring sound -- when someone calls it, but you won't be able to answer it without restoring power. So if you want to actually take calls, keep it powered. Name your phone when you set it up and it'll show in the server directory under that name.
Making Calls & Contacts
Look at a powered phone, and when you see MAKE CALL press E to open it. You get three things: a dial-pad, a Directory, and a personal Contacts list.
- The Directory is auto-populated with your server's MONUMENT phone numbers, so you can ring any monument out of the box -- every monument has a public phone.
- Player numbers aren't listed anywhere automatically -- the only way to get someone's number is to ASK (server chat is full of players advertising theirs). Once you have a number, open the Contacts tab, enter the number and a name in the two blue boxes, and they're saved for quick dialling.
Public phone BOOTHS also exist at several monuments, so you can make calls even without owning a phone.
Voicemail & the Mobile Phone
Two extras require the Voice Props DLC:
- Voicemail: add a cassette tape to a powered phone and it becomes an answering machine. After 3 rings the outgoing message plays; the caller presses SPACEBAR to leave a voicemail, and you listen back via the voicemail option at the bottom of the phone screen. Great for a base you're not always home to defend or a shop taking orders.
- Mobile Phone: a portable version that lets you place calls from ANYWHERE on the map (press attack to open the dialer) instead of being tied to a deployed phone.
The base Telephone itself is free, so even without the DLC you can run a full call-and-contacts setup -- the DLC just adds voicemail and going mobile.